Works on display in the exhibition Lam Duc Hien makes the 4,200km journey along the Mekong River, from the bustling, life-filled tropical lower reaches of the Mekong Delta to upstream Tibet where snow is white all year round. This cross-continental journey has a special meaning to him – the French-Vietnamese photographer was born and raised on the banks of the Mekong River in Laos, affectionately known as the Mother River. In the series of pictorial narratives, individual memories blend with the collective memories of people who live by and rely on the river. Here, the Mekong River is both a boundary and a link between lands, cultures and peoples. Lam Duc Hien was born in 1966 on the banks of the Mekong River, which flows through the town of Pakse in the south of Laos. He arrived in France in 1977 after living for two years in a refugee camp in Thailand. Lam Duc Hien has documented the aftermath of the greatest conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries in many countries around the world, including Romania, Russia, Bosnia, Chechnya, Rwanda, South Sudan and, most significantly, Iraq, where he engaged for more than 25 years. He has won many photography awards, including prestigious awards such as Leica Award, Great European Award of Vevey City, World Press Photo, etc. Lam Duc Hien is a member of Agence VU’ photo agency. The exhibition is open until June 11, 2021.

The first hug. (Author: Mads Nissen) The 2021 Photo Contest’s independent jury selected Mads Nissen’s “First Hug” as World Press Photo in 2021. The photo captures the moment when Mrs. Rosa Luzia Lunardi (85 years old) is in the arms of nurse Adriana Silva da Costa Souza at the Viva Bem nursing home, São Paulo City, Brazil, August 5, 2020. This was the first hug Rosa received in five months. Photographer Nissen shares about his photo: “For me, this is a story of hope and love in the most difficult times.” In March 2020, nursing homes across Brazil must close to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic. Millions of Brazilians cannot visit their loved ones living in nursing homes. Brazilian officials ask nursing home care workers to keep the necessary distance from those who are susceptible to infection. In that context, the authorities at the Viva Bem nursing home came up with the idea of ​​a “hugging curtain”, allowing people to hug each other thanks to the protection of a transparent curtain. Photographer Kevin WY Lee, Creative Director and Jury member of the 2021 Photo Contest, said: “The iconic image of Covid-19 marks the most special moment in life in all of us. I see hurt, loved ones, loss, separation, death, and even life in a photograph.If you look at the photo long enough, you see wings : a symbol of struggle and hope “. This is the second time photographer Nissen has won the World Press Photo Award. He won this award in 2015. The 2021 photo contest includes many categories such as: contemporary issues, the environment, general news, long-term projects, nature, portraits, news … Here are some of the remarkable works that were honored in this year’s photo journalism competition. The award was announced on April 15. First Prize, single photo, in Contemporary Issues category: “Yemen: Famine, Another War Caused by War”, author: Pablo Tosco. Fatima and her son prepare nets to catch fish on Khor Omeira Bay, Yemen, February 12, 2020. Fatima has nine children and she raises them by fishing. Although armed conflict in Yemen devastated Fatima’s village, she decided to return. She uses the money selling fish to buy a boat and continues to make ends meet by fishing. First prize, photo reportage, in the category Environment: “Burning Pantanal”, author: Lalo de Almeida. Firefighters grappled with a fire on the farm São Francisco de Perigara, home to one of the largest purple parrot populations in the world. About 95% of the farm area, with much of its area preserved, was devastated by fire. In 2020, fire burned the Pantanal, the largest tropical swamp in the world, on a record scale. From January to October 2020, fire burned 4.2 million hectares of Pantanal. Second prize, single photo, in Contemporary Issues category: “Dr. Peyo and Mr. Hassen”, author: Jeremy Lempin. Ms. Marion (24 years old, a person with metastatic cancer) holds her son Ethan (7 years old) in her arms in the presence of “horse doctor” Peyo in a hospital in France, on November 30, 2020. “With Peyo, we strive to reinvent life at the end of life to fight and create an energy that accompanies families and caregivers,” said Peyo horse owner Hassen Bouchakour. . Animal-assisted therapies are being used in clinical settings, particularly psychotherapy and pain relief. Animals seem to be able to relieve anxiety, stress, have physical effects such as lowering blood pressure, improving heart rate and helping control pain. First prize, single photo, in the category Environment: “Sea lions in California with a mask”, author: Ralph Pace. An individual curious sea lion in California, USA, swims towards the mask at Breakwater diving area, on November 19, 2020. When a blockade to prevent Covid-19 went into effect in California, natural and outdoor landscapes with the presence of many wildlife species became the focus of local nomads. Third prize, single photo, in News category: “Wildfire”, author: Nuno Andre Ferreira. A baby is sitting inside a car near a forest fire at Oliveira de Frades, Portugal, September 7, 2020. At least 300 firefighters, 100 ground vehicles and 10 firefighters took part in the fire. First prize, single photo, in Nature category: “Saving a giraffe from a flooded island”, author: Ami Vitale. The photo shows an individual Rothschild giraffe transferred from the flooded Longicharo island to safety, on December 3, 2020. The Rothschild Giraffe is a subspecies of the northern giraffe and is classified as endangered.

“I read the hurt, the loved ones, the loss and the separation, the destruction, but more importantly life, all wrapped up in one photo,” said photographer Kevin Wy Lee, creative director and a member of the jury of the 2021 Photo Contest, describing the winning photo titled “The First Hug”. “If you look at the picture long enough, you’ll see wings: a symbol of soaring and hope,” he said. The World Press Photo Foundation awards recognize the photographers with the best photographs that have contributed to the media over the past year on the Covid-19 pandemic, the Israel-Palestine conflict and BLM (Important Black Lives) protests after the death of George Floyd in the US. Joumana El Zein Khoury, the Association’s Executive Director, describes 2020 as a difficult year for the press, and the awards honor “visual storytellers who risk their lives to present us stories. important to the world “. Below is a set of photos that won the 2021 World Press Photo Award: Photo of World Press of the Year: Rosa Luzia Lunardi, 85, is embraced by nurse Adriana Silva da Costa Souza at Viva Bem nursing home, Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 5. [Mads Nissen, Đan Mạch, Politiken / Panos Pictures] Contemporary Issues – First Prize, Singles: Fatima and her son prepare a fishing net on a boat in Khor Omeira Bay, Yemen, February 12, 2020. [Pablo Tosco, Argentina] Long-Term Projects – First Prize: Amma Elian, whose husband has been serving a life sentence since 2003, holds twins born after in vitro fertilization, in Tulkarm, Palestine, Jan. 25 2015. [Antonio Faccilongo, Italia, Phóng sự Getty] Contemporary Matters – First Prize, Story: A crew filmed the second installment of The Old Beyberikeen With Five Cows, a film based on a folk tale, in Sakha, Russia, on August 6, 2019. The first part of the film, directed by Konstantin Timofeev, reached the top 10 box office sales in early 2019. [Alexey Vasilyev, Nga] Environment – First prize, Singles: A curious sea lion swims towards a mask at Breakwater, Monterey, California, USA, on November 19, 2020. [Ralph Pace, Mỹ] Environment – First prize, Story: Firefighter put out a fire at Sao Francisco de Perigara farm, home to one of the largest populations of Hyacinth macaws (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) in Brazil August 14, 2020. About 92% of the farm, largely preserved, was burned down by the flames. [Lalo de Almeida, Brazil, Panos Pictures, dành cho Folha de Sao Paulo] General news – First prize, Story: A missile survived the bombardment of the city of Martuni (Khojavend) in Nagorno-Karabakh located on a field November 10 – the day of the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan comes into force. [Valery Melnikov, Nga, Sputnik] Nature – First Prize, Singles: A Rothschild giraffe is brought to safety on a dedicated barge from the flooded Longicharo Island, Lake Baringo, western Kenya, December 3, 2020. [Ami Vitale, Mỹ, dành cho CNN] Nature – First Prize, Story: The daughter of photographer Merel cowered as a pigeon flew over and landed on a balcony, before entering her house, in Vlaardingen, Netherlands, April 6, 2020. [Jasper Doest, Hà Lan] Portrait – First prize, Singles: Ignat, a transgender man, with his girlfriend Maria in Saint Petersburg, Russia, April 23, 2020. [Oleg Ponomarev, Nga] Portrait – First prize, Story: Torrell Jasper, 35, poses with a gun in his backyard in Schriever, Louisiana, USA, on April 14, 2019. Formerly an American Marine, he learned to shoot from his father when he was a child. [Gabriele Galimberti, Ý, dành cho National Geographic] Sports – First prize, Singles: Georg trains for climbing a pile of wood in Kochel am See, Bavaria, Germany, on September 15, 2020. [Adam Pretty, Australia, Getty Images] Sports – First Prize, Story: A basketball column reinforced by coal blocks next to a street in the US city of Flint on February 25, 2020. FDT signboard is based on a famous song protesting Donald Trump. [Chris Donovan, Canada] News on the spot: First prize, Story: Firefighters extinguish a fire that engulfed a warehouse in Beirut, Lebanon, on August 4, 2020, after a fatal explosion at the port. [Lorenzo Tugnoli, Italy, Contrasto] Spot news – First Prize, Single: One man and one woman disagree about the dismantling of the Liberation Monument in Lincoln Park, Washington DC, June 25, 2020. [Evelyn Hockstein, Mỹ, dành cho The Washington Post]